G20 Police ‘Used Undercover Men to Incite Crowds’
May 11th, 2009Via: Guardian:
An MP who was involved in last month’s G20 protests in London is to call for an investigation into whether the police used agents provocateurs to incite the crowds.
Liberal Democrat Tom Brake says he saw what he believed to be two plain-clothes police officers go through a police cordon after presenting their ID cards.
Brake, who along with hundreds of others was corralled behind police lines near Bank tube station in the City of London on the day of the protests, says he was informed by people in the crowd that the men had been seen to throw bottles at the police and had encouraged others to do the same shortly before they passed through the cordon.
Brake, a member of the influential home affairs select committee, will raise the allegations when he gives evidence before parliament’s joint committee on human rights on Tuesday.
“When I was in the middle of the crowd, two people came over to me and said, ‘There are people over there who we believe are policemen and who have been encouraging the crowd to throw things at the police,'” Brake said. But when the crowd became suspicious of the men and accused them of being police officers, the pair approached the police line and passed through after showing some form of identification.
Brake has produced a draft report of his experiences for the human rights committee, having received written statements from people in the crowd. These include Tony Amos, a photographer who was standing with protesters in the Royal Exchange between 5pm and 6pm. “He [one of the alleged officers] was egging protesters on. It was very noticeable,” Amos said. “Then suddenly a protester seemed to identify him as a policeman and turned on him. He legged it towards the police line, flashed some ID and they just let him through, no questions asked.”
Amos added: “He was pretty much inciting the crowd. He could not be called an observer. I don’t believe in conspiracy theories but this really struck me. Hopefully, a review of video evidence will clear this up.”
Allen Stanford: “May Have Been a U.S. Government Informer”
May 10th, 2009This has to get rolled up. This has to go away.
Allen Stanford would be very familiar with the story of how Barry Seal met his end; shot dead as he sat in his Cadillac, with George H.W. Bush’s personal phone number in a box of documents in his trunk.
So, what precautions did Sir Allen take to avoid a similar outcome? The longer he remains a) alive and b) free, the higher up this goes.
Note: Several readers submitted this story. Thanks for making sure that I saw it.
Via: BBC:
Evidence has emerged that the Texan who bankrolled English cricket may have been a US government informer.
Sir Allen Stanford, who is accused of bank fraud, is the subject of an investigation by the BBC’s Panorama.
Sources told Panorama that if he was a paid anti-drug agency informer, that could explain why a 2006 probe into his financial dealings was quietly dropped.
Sir Allen vigorously denies allegations of financial wrongdoing, despite a massive shortfall in his bank’s assets.
But the British receiver of his failed Stanford International Bank – based in Antigua – told Panorama that the books clearly show the deficit.
Secret documents
Of the $7.2bn (£4.8bn) in deposits claimed by the bank, only $500m (£331m) has been traced.
The $6.7bn (£4.4bn) black hole in Sir Allen’s off-shore bank affects 28,000 depositors – 200 of whom are British, who have collectively lost $80m (£53m) – and raises serious questions for the British Foreign Office and the American authorities.
Secret documents seen by Panorama show both governments knew in 1990 that the Texan was a former bankrupt and his first bank was suspected of involvement with Latin American money-launderers.
In 1999, both the British and the Americans were aware of the facts surrounding a cheque for $3.1m (£2.05m) that Sir Allen paid to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).
It was drug money originally paid in to Stanford International Bank by agents acting for a feared Mexican drug lord known as the ‘Lord of the Heavens’.
The cheque was proof that Stanford International Bank had been used to launder Mexican drug money – whether or not Sir Allen knew it at the time.
Drug lords
On 17 February of this year, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) accused Sir Allen of running a multi-billion dollar Ponzi fraud – when cash from new depositors is used to pay dividends to old depositors – civil charges he has denied.
Two and a half months after the SEC filing, the Texan has not yet faced criminal charges.
He was initially investigated by the SEC for running a possible Ponzi fraud in the summer of 2006, but by the winter of that year the inquiry was stopped.
Panorama understands that the decision was taken because of a request by another government agency.
Panorama is aware of strong evidence that Sir Allen was a confidential agent of the DEA as far back as 1999 – the year he made out the $3.1m cheque to the DEA.
Sources close to the DEA believe he worked with the agency, turning over details of money-laundering from Latin American clients from Colombia, Mexico and Venezuela and Ecuador, effectively guaranteeing himself a decade’s worth of “protection” from the authorities, especially the SEC.
“We were convinced that Stanford’s bank attracted millions of narco-dollars, but it was very difficult to get the evidence to nail him,” sources told Panorama. “The word is that Stanford has been a confidential informer for the DEA since ’99.”
Financial experts believe that many of the depositors in Sir Allen’s off-shore bank were ordinary investors attracted by high interest rates, but that its base in the Caribbean also attracted drug money.
‘No comment’
The DEA declined to comment on the allegation that he had been one of their informers, and the English Cricket Board said they had investigated Sir Allen fully and that he had fulfilled his contract.
A Foreign Office spokesman said: “The UK government does take financial malpractice very seriously and issues regular advice on countries and jurisdictions where there may be serious deficiencies in regulation. It is for companies and the financial professionals they employ to act on this advice with all due diligence.”
Sir Allen Stanford has bitterly denied that he is a fraudster, saying: “It’s no Ponzi.”
On the concerns about money-laundering, in one recent interview, he said: “The Mexican drug cartel? Absolutely not. Never would. That is something absolutely foreign to everything in my body.”
Panorama: The Six Billion Dollar Man, 11 May 2009, BBC One at 2030 BST.
Telegraph: MPs’ Expenses
May 10th, 2009Someone has leaked a series of documents to the Telegraph that detail MPs’ living expenses. It looks like pretty standard stuff to me; possibly suitable for your files on political fat bastardism.
Via: Telegraph:
The Telegraph’s investigation into how politicians – from Gordon Brown and his Cabinet to backbenchers of all parties – exploit the system of parliamentary allowances to subsidise their lifestyles and multiple homes.
CIA Open Source Center Translation of Secret Israeli Ministry of Defense Database Shows the Full Extent of Illegal Israeli Settlements in Gaza and the West Bank
May 9th, 2009Via: Wikileaks:
In late January, WikiLeaks released a 186 page secret Israeli Ministry of Defense database, which showed the full extent of illegal Israeli settlements in Gaza and the West Bank. A version of the document had first been obtained by the well regarded Israeli newspaper Haaretz. The leak made headlines, but its global political impact was limited by its presentation in Hebrew.
Subsequently the United States commissioned the Central Intelligence Agency’s Open Source Center to translate the leak to English. The translation was not released by the CIA, but a copy was obtained by Stephen Aftergood, editor of the US based Federation of American Scientist’s Secrecy News and is presented here.
According to Haaretz, “An analysis of the data reveals that, in the vast majority of the settlements – about 75 percent – construction, sometimes on a large scale, has been carried out without the appropriate permits or contrary to the permits that were issued,”, and “The database also shows that, in more than 30 settlements, extensive construction of buildings and infrastructure (roads, schools, synagogues, yeshivas and even police stations) has been carried out on private lands belonging to Palestinian West Bank residents.”
Top White House Aide Resigned Today for His Role in Air Force Activity Over New York City
May 9th, 2009Via: AP:
A top White House aide resigned today for his role in Air Force One’s $328,835 photo-op flyover above New York City that sparked panic and flashbacks to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. His resignation was made public at the same time the photo of the flyover was released by the White House.
Louis Caldera said the controversy had made it impossible for him to effectively lead the White House Military Office. “Moreover, it has become a distraction in the important work you are doing as president,” Caldera said in his resignation letter to President Barack Obama.
Read Caldera’s Resignation (PDF)
White House Review Of Flyover (PDF)
The sight of the huge passenger jet and an F-16 fighter plane flying past the Statue of Liberty and the lower Manhattan financial district sent panicked office workers streaming into the streets on April 27. Obama said it would not happen again.
Caldera’s office approved the photo-op, which cost $35,000 in fuel alone for the plane and two jet fighter escorts. The Air Force estimated the photo shoot cost taxpayers $328,835.
White House officials said the flight was designed to update the official photo of the plane, known as Air Force One when the president is aboard. The White House released a photo of the blue-and-white plane high above the Statue of Liberty, with New Jersey in the background.
The White House released the report late Friday afternoon via e-mail, with a short written statement from White House press secretary Robert Gibbs. There was no statement about the matter from Obama, who last month declared the embarrassment a “mistake” and vowed it would not be repeated.
Gibbs said Obama has ordered a review of how the White House Military Office is set up, and how it reports to the White House and the Air Force.
That review, to be conducted by Deputy Chief of Staff Jim Messina and Defense Secretary Robert Gates, will also offer recommendations to Obama designed to ensure that such an incident will not happen again, Gibbs said.
Caldera, a former Army secretary, has headed the office that coordinates presidential travel on Air Force jets.
When Obama appointed Caldera to the job during the presidential transition, the then president-elect hailed Caldera as having a resume that was second-to-none. Obama said then: “I know he’ll bring to the White House the same dedication and integrity that have earned him the highest praise in every post.”
His resignation takes effect May 22, but he is done at the White House Military Office now – not just as director, but in any part of the office’s work. He said he will use the two weeks of his employment to complete the necessary steps to leave the White House.
Mission to Break up Pacific Island of Trash Twice the Size of Texas
May 8th, 2009This one always gets to me, not matter how many times I read about it.
Via: Times Online:
A high-seas mission departs from San Francisco next month to map and explore a sinister and shifting 21st-century continent: one twice the size of Texas and created from six million tonnes of discarded plastic.
Scientists and conservationists on the expedition will begin attempts to retrieve and recycle a monument to throwaway living in the middle of the North Pacific.
The toxic soup of refuse was discovered in 1997 when Charles Moore, an oceanographer, decided to travel through the centre of the North Pacific gyre (a vortex or circular ocean current). Navigators usually avoid oceanic gyres because persistent high-pressure systems — also known as the doldrums — lack the winds and currents to benefit sailors.
Mr Moore found bottle caps, plastic bags and polystyrene floating with tiny plastic chips. Worn down by sunlight and waves, discarded plastic disintegrates into smaller pieces. Suspended under the surface, these tiny fragments are invisible to ships and satellites trying to map the plastic continent, but in subsequent trawls Mr Moore discovered that the chips outnumbered plankton by six to one.
The damage caused by these tiny fragments is more insidious than strangulation, entrapment and choking by larger plastic refuse. The fragments act as sponges for heavy metals and pollutants until mistaken for food by small fish. The toxins then become more concentrated as they move up the food chain through larger fish, birds and marine mammals.
“You can buy certified organic farm produce, but no fishmonger on earth can sell you a certified organic wild-caught fish. This is our legacy,” said Mr Moore.
Fed Sees Up to $599 Billion in Bank Losses
May 8th, 2009Via: Wall Street Journal:
The federal government projected that 19 of the nation’s biggest banks could suffer losses of up to $599 billion through the end of next year if the economy performs worse than expected and ordered 10 of them to raise a combined $74.6 billion in capital to cushion themselves.
The much-anticipated stress-test results unleashed a scramble by the weakest banks to find money and a push by the strongest ones to escape the government shadow of taxpayer-funded rescues.
The Federal Reserve’s worst-case estimates of banks’ total losses and capital shortfalls were smaller than some had feared. Optimists interpreted the Fed’s findings as evidence that the worst is over for the industry. But questions remain about the stress tests’ rigor, in part since the Fed scaled back some projected losses in the face of pressure from banks.
The government’s tests measured potential losses on mortgages, commercial loans, securities and other assets held by the stress-tested banks, ranging from giants Bank of America Corp. and Citigroup Inc. to regional institutions such as SunTrust Banks Inc. and Fifth Third Bancorp. The government’s “more adverse” scenario includes two-year cumulative losses of 9.1% on total loans, worse than the peak losses of the 1930s.
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said Thursday that he is “reasonably confident” that banks will be able to plug the capital holes through private infusions, alleviating the need for Washington to further enmesh itself in the banking system.
Banks also said they will consider selling businesses or issuing new stock to meet the toughened capital standards.
China’s Major Ports Unload 24% More Iron Ore Imports in April
May 7th, 2009Wow. I wouldn’t have guessed this one.
Via: Bloomberg:
China, the world’s largest consumer of iron ore, said its major ports unloaded 24 percent more of the imported steelmaking ingredient in April from a year ago, a record for a second month.
Ships dropped 53.5 million metric tons of iron ore last month at major ports, the Ministry of Transport said on its Web site. That beats the March record of 51 million tons.
Stockpiles at the nation’s major ports reached 62 million tons last month, the statement said.
China is seeking to buy 100 million tons of cheaper iron ore from overseas as high-cost domestic mines close, Brazil’s Cia. Vale do Rio Doce, the world’s largest supplier of the material, said last month. International cash prices for iron ore will bottom this quarter because of rebounding Chinese demand, Goldman Sachs JBWere Pty said May 1.
Bank of England to Print Extra 50 Billion Pounds
May 7th, 2009Via: Reuters:
The Bank of England stepped up its campaign to boost the struggling economy, raising the size of its asset purchase programme on Thursday in a surprise move tantamount to printing an extra 50 billion pounds to get banks lending again.
The central bank kept rates at a record low of 0.5 percent as expected, but surprised markets by moving swiftly to reassure them that its scheme to buy up government and corporate bonds with newly-created money would last at least 3 months more.
Classified Anti-Missile System Details Found on Used Hard Drive
May 7th, 2009Via: Guardian:
Highly sensitive details of a key US missile defence system have been found on the hard drive of a computer that was disposed of in California.
The information about defence contractor Lockheed Martin included a document detailing test launch procedures, blueprints of facilities and photos and personal daat about employees – including their social security numbers.
Access to such data could allow identity theft or industrial espionage against Lockheed Martin, which is working on the Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) system – a project begun under president Ronald Reagan’s “Star Wars” Strategic Defence Initiative in the 1980s.
The computer, which has been turned over to the FBI, was bought online as part of a global research project conducted by three universities – Longwood University in the US, Glamorgan University in the UK and Edith Cowan University in Australia – along with BT and Sims Recycling Solutions.
The annual hard drive survey, now in its fourth year, is designed to bring to public attention the risk to personal data posed by carelessly discarded computer equipment which often contains huge amounts of personal and commercial data. The universities involved in the study use techniques and tools that are readily available from the internet and can be used by someone with a basic knowledge of technology to recover the data left on the drives, often this is not necessary as many are not even wiped.
One of the men who analysed the drive – Glenn Dardick, assistant professor of information systems at Longwood University in Virginia – described it as “manna from heaven to hackers”. He said: “If this is out there, then it does beg the question: what else is out there?”
